Description

Villa Marta has been completely renovated and modified. It offers a high level of comfort. Because of its thick outer walls and its position by the sea it stays cool during the summer, and preserves warmth during the winter.
The sea is at the bottom of the terraced garden and a small path through the orchard takes you to it directly. To get to the local beach – Cannesisa - you can walk down this private path and then either follow the coastal path by the rocks for 100m or get in the water from the rocks. Some guests may prefer to drive to the beach and this takes a couple of minutes. There is then free parking behind the beach.
We always meet guests when they arrive at Villa Marta, to show around the house and garden, and discuss any practical details (and also provide a written leaflet with useful information).
After this, unless guests want to spend their time on their own, we also enjoy meeting up and answering questions, as we live locally.
In case of need we are available within 5 minutes most of the time and the village is patrolled by unarmed guards year-round.
The place is very quiet and green. Looking South, the house is sunny and sheltered from strong winds, but exposed to gentle breezes. The sea is beautiful and stream-less year-round except a few weeks during winter, making it suitable for unattended children. The weather is perfect from Spring till October, and the water gets really warm (26+ °C even offshore).

Access

The road serves a fraction of the village's properties and is at least 30 meters away from the house. The main road is far away behind the hill.
Bus transportation is available at the entrance of the village, but it is more practical to have a car. Otherwise most of the time we are willing to help people for shopping with our car and could lend a bike. Depending on the number of guests we may also manage to provide transportation from to airports / harbours.

Disabled access

Two private parking places for exclusive use of our guests are available behind the house and connected to the entrance of the house by wide and gentle stairs (20 steps).
Strictly speaking our villa is unfortunately not yet wheelchair friendly.
However we have been using a wheelbarrow to carry heavy loads up and down the stairs for some time now, and think that a disabled with a sufficiently fit friend would access the ground floor and then move autonomously through the living room, the kitchen, the suite with shower and wall mounted shower chair, the biggest terrace and the barbecue.

Activities

There are plenty of things to do here, boating, fishing, horse riding, shopping... But most people just end up relaxing and enjoying the sun after a swim.

Sustainability

The electric consumption of the house is abundantly compensated by the solar electricity produced with the solar panels we installed on the roof a few years ago.
We provide biodegradable detergents and soaps.
The garden is an ongoing experiment where local species coexist with tropical plants.
Even though at an early stage of its development the garden produces fruits and/or vegetables all year round by using a minimal amount of water and applying organic techniques.
House martinsLicenseLicense build their mud nests around the house and under the terrace roofs, catsLicense keep mice away, and small batsLicenseLicense (expected to become more numerous with the installation of so-called bat-houses around the house) and geckosLicense greatly help to keep mosquitoes under control, reducing the need to use repellents to a couple of weeks during the summer. Ceiling hung mosquito nets can be used for most affected people . FalconsLicense and buzzardsLicense reproduce and live in this area from October until April whereas barn owlsLicense live here permanently. During spring, dolphinsLicense approach the beach.

Children

Many of our guests come to Villa Marte with children. We are very happy to be hosting smaller guests and this has worked very well so far. The villa is on 2 floors and we have not fitted any child-specific safety such as stair gates or kitchen appliances etc.. There is one suite on the ground floor and we would therefore recommend using this one for parents accompanying smaller children. We can provide a travel cot for children up to 3 years old with mosquito net, raised mattress and linen.

Amenities

Facilities include drinking water, electricity (20kWh per day + 0.25 Euro per additional kWh), air conditioning, two private parking places, internet cabled and wi-fi, wood-burning stove, gas, alarm system and equipped kitchen. Linen, bath towels and final cleaning are included.

Conclusion

Apart from the practical details we think that South East Sardinia is unique and its ever-changing natural atmosphere makes it one of the most attractive areas of the Mediterranean. That's something that one cannot convey through a web page, but can be easily enjoyed.
Summers are long, the sea is calm, no sources of pollution are present, the seismicity is insignificant, the sea depth favours the water turnover, it's always possible to find a sheltered beach regardless of the strength and direction of the wind, and, last but not least, food is so tasty.